Berry Berry Kix

Mabes was so sad to see both Laura and the two boxes of Berry Berry Kix I'd bought for her leave Monday night that I promised I'd buy Mabes a box for her on Tuesday (more on Laura later). I did, and she enjoyed them Wednesday and Thursday for breakfast. This morning, I asked Mabes if she wanted more Berry Berry Kix for breakfast or something else. She said she didn't know what she wanted, but she didn't want Berry Berry Kix, because "When I was eating them yesterday, Daddy sang a song about Berry Berry Kix, and I didn't like the song. It embarrassed me. I'm afraid if I eat Berry Berry Kix again, he'll sing the song again. I don't think I can ever eat them again."

My response: it must have been a bad song to make Berry Berry Kix lose their appeal.

Dave's response: That embarrassed her? Oh, just wait until she's in middle school!

Happy

It's 73 degrees outside, I have my windows open. The house is clean, floors are scrubbed, laundry folded and put away, clean sheets on the beds. Bullet Bill is gassed up, washed, and vacuumed. I'm wearing short sleeves. The girls are getting over their 6 week long back-to-back colds and ear infections and sleeping better (sadly, this is relative--I was still up a couple of times last night with Annabelle). If Annabelle's ear infection comes back again, I have a much better thermometer. I'm tracking orders from Amazon that will arrive this afternoon (what? the "out for delivery" notification doesn't thrill you?). And this evening, I will be tracking the North Carolina-bound flight of this redhead:

And because Laura cannot live by cheeks alone:
(not pictured: Diet Coke, 3 kinds of ice cream, Bojangles, Cookout milkshakes, and either the roast or tri tip we have Sunday night)

It's going to be a good weekend. Anyone have any suggestions of something to do tomorrow? Laura isn't hard to please; she'd be perfectly happy playing video games, eating, and hugging all day. But I'd hate to waste a gorgeous Saturday inside.

Christmas in February

Last weekend, Dave's mom came to visit and brought Christmas with her. Mabes was thrilled to see her Grandma, more so when she saw the pile of gifts to open. Annabelle seemed a bit overwhelmed by it all but had a blast. She got a new doll that she loves:

And rocking chair:
She also got a push/ride-on toy. It's basically a walker. It seems like she's been *so close* to walking for a while now, but this may actually do it. She can stand on her own, even push herself up into a stand in the middle of the room and do squats, but she's not terribly interested in actually moving her legs. When we were at my parents' for Christmas, my mom brought out the little chair that Mabes used to push around, that basically taught her to walk. Annabelle had no interest. But now she's showing more interest and she really likes this toy. She's been pushing it around and on Monday she took 1 step on her own. She did it again yesterday (not when we were trying to help her, of course--she pushed herself up to standing, took a step, sat down and clapped), but that's about it. I think her determination to do this her way and on her own terms is kind of hilarious.




Jackie also brought treats from the local donut shop, which I love. She brought a donut for Annabelle, since she didn't get the traditional (guess it's not a tradition if we only did it for one kid) first birthday donut.

She wasn't impressed:

We had lots of fun with Grandma Jackie and are so happy she was able to come visit.

Where did you get that hat?

Tuesday was Mabes' hundredth day of school. I've heard of all sorts of "hundred day" kindergarten celebrations, but I have to say, I loved Mabes' assignment, even if I was a little overwhelmed: she had to bring a hat with 100 things on it. At first, Mabes wanted to bring a hat with 100 of her toys on it. We talked about it more, and decided to do flowers. I was thinking I'd stick 100 foam flower stickers to a hat and call it a day, but then I had flashbacks to being the creative underachiever in 10th grade biology and reconsidered (that's a story for another day). I talked to my friend Karin and she said she her daughter wanted buttons, so she sewed on the buttons. Crazy, I thought. Who would sew 100 buttons to a hat? Not me!

The more I thought about it, the more I thought a ridiculous flower-covered hat would be awesome. And since Mabes isn't gentle, I realized I'd have to sew the flowers on. So I ate my words (something I seem to be doing a lot lately) and spent a good chunk of time on Saturday and Monday sewing flowers to a hat. When Dave rolled his eyes at me, I pointed out that since it would be a well-made hat, Mabes could wear it should we get invited to Prince William & Kate's wedding. It could happen.

And I found a cute ladybug button, so we decided to do 99 flowers and 1 ladybug. Mabes was quite relieved by this, as she didn't want anyone to think that she was wearing a 100 flower hat to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the Hundred Flowers Movement. *That* would be embarrassing! Kindergartners can be cruel if they suspect Maoist sympathies.

So here's Mabes in her hat:

It's ridiculous and reminds me of spring and I love it. But I really don't think it's dressy enough for a royal wedding, so we're back to square one on that.

And while we're on the subject, here's Annabelle in the awesome hat my good friend/former roommate Emily knit for her. I love this hat so much, and it always makes Annabelle smile. That could be because I'm laughing at her when I put it on her, though.

There's a first time for everything

A couple of days ago, I was driving Mabes home from school and she was complaining about how cold she was. (I'm not complaining--it's been much nicer than last winter, in that it's been above 40 degrees several times already!) "Hey Mabes, you think it's cold here? Where Ainsleigh and Dono live, it was so much colder yesterday."

Her eyes got big, "Like, as cold as when it snowed here?"

"Colder. Remember how cold it was when it snowed? It's like that, only 30 degrees colder."

Mabes' jaw dropped. "What? That's...I...uh...I don't even know what to say!" She was quiet, presumably deep in thought, for the remainder of the trip.

I'm going to have to record this in her baby book: February 2, 2011--the day Mabes was rendered speechless.

One year one month one day

This little girl

is now 1. Technically no longer a baby, but still my baby. To be honest, I was kind of dreading her birthday. Annabelle has been a great baby, and I didn't want the baby stage to be over. It was a great year. I miss cuddling up on the couch with her:

But I love chasing her:

Her current interests include crawling faster than any baby I've seen, standing a lot (more lately, now that she's feeling better and her ear infection is gone), clicking her tongue, growling when something makes her happy, cuddling with Murray, laughing at Mabes, saying "Dada," not saying "Mama," and being a complete Daddy's girl. Dave works from home, so if he comes out during the day, her face lights up, she growls, yells "Dada!," bounces a little, then race-crawls over to him, knocks her head into his shins, sits back, and wiggles her ankles and wrists until he picks her up. The other day I was cleaning up the kitchen and before I knew it, she had bolted down the hall and was outside Dave's office sticking her fingers under the door whispering "Dadadada!"

She has her own opinion and gets mad when she doesn't get what she wants and randomly throws her food on the floor even though she's still hungry. So cute! And she still wakes up at night and I think she's trying to drop down to one nap, which I am totally not ready for. But despite that, she's an absolutely adorable one-year-old.

How could you not want to squeeze her?

Wait--Christmas was a month ago?!?!

I'm a little behind.

(And now I'm giggling to myself because I'm making jokes in my head about my big behind. THIS is why I don't blog more. Well, one of the reasons.)

So...Christmas. It was awesome. We had a fantastic time. It was a month ago. We're still sad that it's over. I had all these great stories in mind, and obviously didn't write them down. But let's face it, we just like pictures, so here's our Christmas recap (also known as "I like parentheses"):

Mabes is quite excited.

Oh, wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. We really don't have any pictures from the first few days of our trip, but let me summarize: we took a very late flight there, I lounged around, Dave worked, the girls played, we went to the gym (I know! On vacation! Consider it damage control), and of course, ate.

The crowns are from another great tradition: Christmas Crackers. We are nothing if not silly.

On Christmas Eve, we had our traditional family dinner with us, Jeff's fiancee and her parents, my Aunt Nancy, Shelley (practically an aunt), and the Obers (also practically family--Krissy is the cute-but-nerdy younger sister we needed one more of). My parents have been even more health-conscious lately, so I'd warned them if my mom pulled a tofurkey out of the oven, we'd be heading to In-N-Out. Thankfully, dinner was prime rib, turkey, See's candy, mashed potatoes, Mom's rolls, Mom's caramels, veggies, and Nancy's awesome salad. (What, did no one else have a candy course? I may have made a detour on my way for seconds.)

I made my friend Brandi's toffee dip for apples, which is amazing. I told my mom I was going to make this for people to munch on before dinner, and when she saw what goes into it, she said, "So we're having dessert before dinner, then dinner, then brownies and ice cream after?" I didn't see a problem, and neither did she when she tasted the dip.

Despite the feast, Laura apparently didn't get enough and proceeded to eat Annabelle's cheek.

After dinner, my dad insisted we sing some Christmas songs, and Mabes got up and belted out "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." I didn't know she knew all the words. She was great and I was so shocked I didn't get video until the last 3 words. Doh.

Mabes singing with Babybelle rockin' out.

Christmas morning was fun. Mabes was particularly excited about her new chapstick, Littlest Pet Shop toys, and camera (she spent the whole day at Biltmore pretending to take pictures), but when she opened the present I was most excited for--a leotard, tights, ballet slippers, and a note from Santa telling her she'd be starting dance lessons--she burst into tears. She said she was "too nerbuss to go to dance lessons." WHAT?!?! This girl has rarely shown fear. Ever. This is a girl who dances everywhere. Where is this coming from? We told her she didn't have to go, and we didn't speak of it again. At least that day.

Chapstick!

The day before, Mabes had been saying her tooth was loose. I brushed it off, since one of her classmates had lost his tooth in class a few days earlier. She's too young, I thought, it's just wishful thinking. Then she told me she could wiggle it. Seriously? So I made her open wide, and sure enough, her tooth wiggled. Crazy! It'll be a few days, though, right? I didn't think about it again, until the next day (Christmas) Mabes was walking into our room, made a face, and spit something out. Of course I was mad, "What did you just spit out of your mouth? Go to the bathroom!" "It was something in my mouth--I think it was my tooth!" Clearly she doesn't understand how this works, you don't just spit out a tooth. And then she picked up her tooth and smiled at me:

I hope they're all this easy.

That night, the Hills arrived, bringing all the cousins, lots of noise, and loads of fun.

It was really nice having other kids there to occupy Mabes so we could focus on eating. And talk, of course.

We did get out, though, and spent a day in San Francisco. We walked on the Golden Gate Bridge, had lunch at Jeff and Jess's apartment, and went to the Exploratorium.

And Annabelle turned 1!

Don't worry, Puppy, you'll get your own birthday post. When I get around to it.

Other than that, we pretty much just hung out and had a blast.

More video games:

More eating:

More baby-eating:

More cuddling:

It was a great vacation.